7/28/2019 TasNat 1925 Vol1 No4 Pp10-11 Sharland LifeSwallow

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THE TASMANIAN NATURALISTawl give a great variety of figures. Forthe shapes of these figures the readermust consult a text book of mineralogy,as a discussion of them "is impossibleexcept at great length and. with thea.id of a multitude of figures and dia?;rams. The determination of a mineraluy its cl'Ydtallogl'uphic: forlll is often (hf- ..tlcult and very rarely t.:sed in practice,the forrm having been worked out fo rall known minerals, and is more easilyascertained by reference to a text book

than by actually working it out frOInthe princ:iples of cl'ystallography.Beside3 these possible forIns, othersarc introduced by the habit pos:-ressedby crystals of certain minerals of twinning, t Int is , of growip.g together illpair;:; 01 ' more numl::!1'OUS aggregates.Many minet:dlli adopt very characteristict\o,.'in fOl'llls by whieh they can be distinguished. A. N. Lewis

Life of the SwallowOf all the slimmer migrants who regulal'1y visit our shores, p e r h a l J ~ nOlle afford th e lover of bird life 60 muchpleasure as the swallow.The arrival of the first swallow stirsthe pulse vf every lover of ~ a t u r e , recalling as i t does, perhaps, certain pleas_ant memories, and impresses llPOll us thefact that summer-or a t any l 'ate tnemontht3 termed by courtesy summer-ISalmost upon us, while the departure of

the beautiful bird warns us of the depressing fact that another winter ifldrawing on. It is , of course, generallyknown that some individuals allow theirmigratory impulses to lapse and re,mainwith us right through the year, as de..some of the cuckoos and other birds affect.ed uy migration; but the great bulkof the swaUows go away, usually to NewSouth ""ales and Queensland. at the approach of winter.It is not the beauty of the swallow

ulone that attracts our attention, but! ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~ ~ ! s ' ~ i ~ d ~ : ~ i t ~ e n e t n ~ ! : r b t t ~ a d : ~ ~ ~ ~for he often shares wi th us the housewe liVe in, and claims the Drivilegesof a welcome guest during his too shortI-ltay; and he is well entitled to ourlove and protection, for, being a purelyiut':lf'ct feeder, the amount of e;oCJcl hedoes is incalculable.

Designed for Flight.None of our bird v i ~ i t o r ' S are moreadmirably and beautifully designed for

~ o : ~ ~ ~ d t ~ ~ n ~ ~ ~ f l ~ ~ l \ ~ ~ ~ e t ; h ~ ~ e t l ~ x : e ~of wing go's to show what an impCJrtant lJart this member plays in the lifeof the bird. On the other hand, theircomparatively small legs go to provewhat a t;maIl proportion of work theyare t:aIled upon to perform. For pra

7/28/2019 TasNat 1925 Vol1 No4 Pp10-11 Sharland LifeSwallow

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THE TASMANIAN NATURALisTness of swallows has been recordedfrom Ceylon. In this CRse the birdsbuilt over a lamp in the dining-room.","hat made their choice of site more re.markable was the fact tluit the lampeonld be raised vI' lowered by counter

w ~ i g h t s and the connecting chuinlS actu-ally passed through the mud walls ofth e nest.The determina.tion with which thep:.wallow returns to it s old nesting placea.stonlshina;. An instance came under the writer's notice in which a pairof these birds hatched out a broodof Y O U ~ ones three years in succession;each year the nestlings were killed bya cat, yet the forth yeaI' the old onesreturned to nest in the same place.Similarly. if a householdel" should destroy the nest of a pair that may have.:elpcted an inconvenient place to b u i l d ~ 'the birds, with astonishing tenacity, willtry oVet:' and over a,ga.in to rebuild it .

M gration of Swallows.The swallow is for most Deople a provecbial migrant, and scientifically itserves as a useful type. Ib: almostcomplete absence in winter makes thefact of its migration obvious to all, andalthough much is known of the . bird'l!!movement!:i. it rE!mains true that the ordinary observer can seldom note moret.han its annual appearance and dis'appearance One day in early spring oue

01.' two are noticed flying about, then !l Omore will be 6een for some days. Againa few appear. and the numbers gradually increase till the locality has it s

full complement for the summer. Inthe busy months that follow, two 01 'occasionally even three broods are rear_p.d, and then the time of departure isat h,and. This is heralded by muchactiVity and excitement, and the birds( ~ o n g r e g a t e sometimes in immenseflocks, and, together with their young,leave for the warmer northern lands.At other times they travel northward:;:in small bands, and as they move during the daytime as well as at night,migration may often be seen in pro_gress. In the midlands the wrIter hasoccasionally observed l,arge num uerRpat3li1ing in a n o r t h ~ l y dIrection, in mostcases all being bunched, and in others.,strung out in a long line perhaps several mile's in length. The swallow u ,,-uaIly arrives in Southern Tasmalliaabout July to September, and depart,again somewhere about April. On theEast Coast, a.s well as round Hobart.odd pairs m'aY be seen all the yearround.

According to Scandinavian traditwll,the Mwallow ,hovered over the Cross,crying HSvala! Svala!" (Console! Consol-e!) whence it derives its name "swallow" (the bird of consolation). Ourown name for the bird is derived fromthe AngloSaxon word swa.Iewe. l'raclition still clings to the swallow, happily. It is c o n ~ i d e r e d lucky to have aswaUow build about the house and unIUt'ky to kHI the bird-the personifi~ a t i o n of avi:an beauty.M. S. R. Sharland.

A Cave 0/ the AboriginesP,trt way dOWll l l } l - ~ steellly slopingsides of Sisters Hills is situated a fairlylal'ge ca ye whieh is of grea t interest !Olits plain, yet unwritten history te11s thuobsel'ver that i t was once the strongho)dof some tribe of OUl' abol'igines. I t musihave made a splendid winter refuge forthem, where, \,,'arm and dry, they ( ~ o l l h ldefy the fiercet!t of the winter's e a s t e l ' l i ~which swept along the N Ql'th'Vest Coust. The cave is situated l'OUg]lly aobut 200 feet above "the 8ea, to \\'hicha. precipitous path leads, ending ill a narrow fringe of l'o(;k amI pebble-.;;tr(>wllbeach. The WCll'd beHl'h is almost a l l l i6-Homer to the tillY ~ t r i ] > of l e \ ' ( ~ l . d l O r ~ ~ .Here the l'ucks J'Ull Ollt under the sea, awlbetween mallY of thet5c (lallgerous l'f:'ei'sthe sea. Hool' ~ a l j ( l y _ Frolll i I 8twly of the

c o a ~ t l j n c allci an illtlpediull of the ill-(11)

llumerable small midden heaps Oll theHat to the Tear of Sisters Beach, one ( 'OD-dudes that the summer days were spell ti l l the open and that when the cold wea,'ther prevailed a resort was made to thf'cave.The po,sition of this cave is so secludedlhat it is almost unnoticeahle except forsmall opening showing as a dark linebreaking the face of the cleft between thetwo spurs of the hill. Facing the. eastit received the early sun, whilst the t w ~ npeaks of Sisters Hills, 900 feet high, formed a protecting wa.ll from the cold southand also westerly winds. I t ~ ! r n o 6 t$eemcd as if Nature with protective carehad formed this natural retreat for herlllliutol'cd children.The opening of the ,cave l'esembles amouth with the lips pUl'seu to one side.